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In between the accusations flying between the province&rsquo;s Special Investigations Unit and the Toronto Police Service stands this man: a 27-year-old aircraft parts technician and father who claims he was beaten unconscious in the early morning hours of July 28, 2012.

Tyrone Phillips, 27, is the man at the centre of a spat between Toronto police and the province's Special Investigations Unit. Phillips alleges police beat him up during his arrest outside a nightclub last summer. (CARLOS OSORIO / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

Tyrone Phillips says he received bruises on his arm as a result of an alleged beating at the hands of police during an arrest last summer. (TYRONE PHILLIPS PHOTO)

Phillips is the man in the middle of a heated spat between the province’s Special Investigations Unit and the Toronto Police Service. His police brutality complaint is its casualty.

While there is now hope that Phillips’ case may yet be heard, SIU director Ian Scott charged Thursday that the ordeal “could have been avoided” if Toronto police had simply co-operated.

The argument began Wednesday with a terse statement from Scott announcing the closure of the agency’s investigation into Phillips’ claim that he was beaten unconscious by Toronto police this summer.

In August, 11 days after his arrest, Phillips issued the complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, a provincial agency that probes grievances against police.

It passed the complaint to Toronto police for investigation, who then sent it to the SIU, the agency that probes every police-civilian altercation that involves serious injury or death.

But when SIU investigators asked Toronto police for Phillips’ original complaint, they refused to hand it over, saying the document belonged to the OIPRD. The OIPRD then declined to send the complaint to the SIU, saying their confidentiality policy states they can only share information with the affected police service.

Lacking the complaint, Scott said he did not have adequate information for the investigation and closed the case, suggesting police may be in breach of their duty to co-operate with the SIU.

That came as a blow to Phillips, a Malton-based aircraft parts technician and father of a 17-month-old son. He claims his life changed when he was arrested in the early morning hours of July 28, outside of Tryst nightclub in the Entertainment District.

Phillips said he was celebrating a friend’s birthday that night and had just left the nightclub when he spotted a friend talking to one of the club’s security guards. He had just joined him when he claims he was suddenly jumped from behind and fell to the ground.

He admits he had been drinking, but says neither he nor his friend had provoked the security guard. He also said he hadn’t seen police in the area.

“I didn’t even realize who it was until I was being handcuffed and I heard ‘Stop resisting’ and I put two and two together,” he said.

Phillips spent the night in a jail cell and was released the next morning. He was charged with one count of assaulting a peace officer and one count of obstructing a peace officer. He appears in court Feb. 21.

Phillips says police allege he hit one officer, Kelly Munroe, in the neck with one of the steel barriers, the kind used to stop people from entering the clubs.

“I didn’t do that,” Phillips says.

Instead, he claims officers beat him unconscious, causing bruises and cuts all over his body and giving him a concussion.

None of Phillips’ allegations have been proven in court. Police spokesperson Mark Pugash said it would not be appropriate for Munroe to comment on a matter currently before the courts.

Two visits to the hospital confirmed Phillips had suffered a concussion. A neurology report six weeks after the arrest said Phillips had suffered “Multiple hits to the head . . .” and was experiencing “dizziness, clumsiness . . . his appetite is decreased and he has decreased motivation.”

Claiming he was extremely sad and couldn’t sleep — he was prone to random fits of crying on the job at AvWind International, where he’s worked for nearly five years — Phillips’ sought professional help.

A St. Joseph’s Health Centre psychiatrist diagnosed him with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a disease she said came on after the arrest.

Phillips, who says he had no prior problems with mental health, is now taking prescription medication for the PTSD and depression.

Tears stream down Phillips’ face as he wonders why he’s facing charges stemming from that night. He “wasn’t even thugged out,” because he was wearing dress shoes and a dress shirt.

Phillips does have a previous record: In 2005, he was convicted of dangerous driving and possessing property obtained by crime, a suspended sentence that saw him serve 12 months probation. Two years earlier, he was charged with theft but granted an absolute discharge. A robbery charge the same year was withdrawn.

He hadn’t been in trouble with the law recently, he said, because he found a job he loves and became a father to his son, Tyrone Jr.

“I’m not risking my son, my freedom, my job so I can dust up a police officer,” he said.

Now, Phillips doesn’t understand why, after he signed an SIU document giving police permission to release his original complaint, Toronto police would not give it to the SIU.

On Thursday, Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin tweeted that the “spat in the OIPRD, TPS and SIU triumvirate certainly gives cause for concern for the admin of justice and raises eyebrows high indeed.”

In an email to the Star Thursday, Scott indicated that Phillips’ case could be reopened: while it will not send the complaint to the SIU, the OIPRD will release it to Phillips if he requests it. Scott said he will be asking Phillips to do that, then forward his complaint on to the SIU, which would reopen the investigation.

“At the end of the day, our priority is to conduct thorough investigations,” Scott said.

Pugash asked Thursday why Scott “went through the exercise he did yesterday with the inflammatory and quite offensive news release.”

“He must have known that (getting Phillips’ to request the document) was all that was required,” he said.

Phillips said he would do whatever he could to help move his complaint along.

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